Lynx center Taj McWilliams-Franklin had difficulty suppressing a smile after Minnesota beat the San Antonio Silver Stars 85-67 in Game 3 of the Western Conference semifinals Tuesday night at Target Center.

Sure, she was thrilled about the top-seeded Lynx earning a berth in the conference finals against Phoenix, but her joy went deeper.

The Lynx post players had delivered in a big way.

McWilliams-Franklin scored 16 points and had three rebounds and four assists. Power forward Rebekkah Brunson added 15 points, nine rebounds, two assists and a steal, and reserve post Jessica Adair had seven points and four rebounds.

“This is really special to play so well as a group,” McWilliams-Franklin said. “It was nice to be able to help out for a team that needs us.”

Sneaky Whalen: During a 17-0 run in the first half, Lynx point guard Lindsay Whalen came up with a heads-up play.

Whalen, who was held to two points but had three assists and four steals, scrambled to force a jump ball with Stars standout Sophia Young, who is 6 feet 1. Instead of trying to outleap Young, the 5-foot-8 Whalen began sneaking out of the circle while the ball was tossed up. Young, thinking she was tapping the ball to a teammate, actually tipped it toward Whalen, who deflected it to Brunson for a Lynx possession.

“Other teams have already done that, but we aren’t ready to join them,” she said before Game 3.

“There are a bunch of other teams in our league that have gone fishing,” said Reeve, who turned 45 Tuesday. “We put ourselves in a position to keep on playing. We are going to embrace the moment and have fun. We want to keep playing on our home court in front of thousands of our fans.”

When Reeve was an assistant coach in Detroit, she helped lead the Shock to four appearances in the WNBA Finals, including two (2006 and ’08) that ended in championships.

In those runs, elimination games were common.

“We had Game 3s all the time,” she said.

“The mind-set is to play 120 minutes of basketball. You have to keep playing for that 120 minutes to see what happens. In this series, the first 40 minutes doesn’t matter and neither does the second 40 minutes. We are staring at the final 40 minutes that really mean a great deal. It’s win or go fishing.”

Briefly: Four Lynx players have appeared in the WNBA Finals: Brunson, 2005; McWilliams-Franklin and Alexis Hornbuckle, 2008; and Whalen, 2004 and ’05.

McWilliams-Franklin has the most playoff experience of Lynx players with 47 postseason games played. Brunson is second with 26.

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